About Fairfax County, VA

What is happening in the Fairfax County Real Estate market? That is the most frequently asked question we get.

There is no need to speculate; here are the major statistics through the month of January 2012.

The cherry blossoms have come and gone but Fairfax County's low unemployment rate (half the national average) combined with record low interest rates have kept the price recovery motoring along.

We tend to like longer term statistics since they smooth out seasonal aberrations and monthly anomalies and help illustrate any the strength or weakness which underlies the market.

Below is the 5 year median price trend for Fairfax which mirrors that of all NOVA counties. The market bottomed in 2009 and has been recovering a significant amount of the equity loss from the freakish never before seen price highs of 2005.

Hover your cursor over any point on the graphs to get a monthly read...they are interactive.

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Here is what has happened to prices year to date through January 2012:

(this is all home types: condos, townhouses and Single family homes)

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The number of days that it takes to get a winning contract has fallen to 45 a very wonderful number. Here is what that looks like.

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The existing inventory of re-sale homes is at a 3 year low. Short supply and strong demand has edged prices upward. Although Northern VA home prices took a beating between 2006 and first quarter of 2009, we have been spared the devastation that occurred in the "Sand" states of Florida, California,and Nevada. Full recovery is years away for those hard hit areas.

As always, the strong economy of our area has cushioned us from the worst.

Well priced homes under $350k in good locations and in good condition have been getting multiple contracts within a few weeks of coming on the market.

Upper end properties ...above $750k ,are moving more slowly even though some of them had sold for over a million once upon a time.

Jan and I have sold more new construction homes in the last year couple of years than we ever have. This is directly due to the low inventory of existing property combined with strong builder incentives.

However, builder's business actually has gotten so good in the last 9 months that they are cutting back on those sweet seller subsidies for buyer closing costs and the generous incentives for buyers options.

That said, there are some select builders who are offering some great options and subsidies, to get folks to come visit in the cold winter months.

My guess is that as the weather warms, these subsidies will shrink.

Once a given, the old $10k in buyer closing cost subsidy and $15k for options can no longer be assumed to be the norm.

Those builders that survived the plunge from 2006 to today are trying to get back in the black.

We have one of our clients in a lottery for a select lot....whoa! Crazy no?

The national news regarding real estate is NOT US.

Homes are selling...As an example, 400+ new homes sold in 2011 in the Ashburn community of Brambleton...an amazing #.

Thanks for stopping by our blog and come back often.

If you need information on new homes or any other area of real estate, drop us a line. We will do our best to get you what you need.

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According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. February is a month all about the heart but, most people associate it with Valentine’s Day not, heart disease. This February make sure you spread the love about American Heart Month.

Occasionally Cake, a local cake shop in Alexandria is joining the cause and today, February 10, 2012 offering Valentine themed treats for order through February 11, 2012. 10% of each purchase will be donated to the American Heart Association to further research on the disease. The only catch is you have to wear red when placing your order and when you do they’ll also hand you a FREE cupcake.

Wearing red anytime during February marks your support for American Heart Month so doesn’t just limit your support to visiting Occasionally Cake.

Welcome to the Little Rocky Run February 2012 Single Family Home Sales Report and neighborhood photo tour.

Yes this is a pretty long post, with photos and a video.... the idea is to make kind of a mini website for the community.

If you are not familiar with the neighborhood, Little Rocky Run consists of 1653 single family (detached) homes and 1069 town houses on 950 acres with 250 acres of open space.

The detached homes across from Centreville High School have a Clifton 20124 address, while the townhouses across New Braddock Rd, have a Centreville address in zip code 20121.

The following reports cover the single family detached home section of the community and will help you keep track of current home sales activity on the Clifton side, as well as sales trends over the last 3 months.

9 Detached Homes for Sale in Little Rocky Run Clifton as of February 10, 2011.

14 Detached Homes Sold in Little Rocky Run since October 1, 2011.

The average # of "Days on Market for this period was 79 with the median set at 59. Not bad for this time of year.

"Days on market" means the number of days it took to get a viable contract from the date the property went on the market.

It is not the number of days from list date until settlement. Report: http://matrix.mris.com/Matrix/Public/EmailCMA.aspx?ID=1066612959

Once in the homes for sale reports, click on the mls # to expand the listing and the camera icon to see any pictures there might be.

The links in these reports generally EXPIRE in 30 days from the date of this post and become non functioning. Check in monthly for current data. OR just drop us an email and we will send you the current sales figures or set you up on an auto search so that you will ALWAYS have current data.

You can set up you own search at Jan and Steve's Listing Book.

Major "daily need"shopping options are only 1.5 miles away in 2 directions with, Fair Lakes, Fair Oaks Mall and Fairfax Corner entertainment and mega shopping venues within a 15 minute drive.

Twin Lakes Public Golf Course run by the Fairfax County Park Authority is right across the street. The golfer and deer photos were taken there.

Little Rocky Run is convenient to New Braddock Rd (for a straight run up into Fairfax), and Routes 28, 29, and 66 which provide access to the rest of the world.

The community was planned so that recreation activities are easily accessible to residents. There are:

3 recreation centers

3 pools with adjoining baby pools

3 multi purpose courts

7 tennis courts (2 lighted)

16 tot lots

3 miles of walking trails

Little Rocky Run is served by the following schools...

(the Union Mill elementary school boundary is pretty convoluted and starts with a small section off route 29 and expands west across New Braddock Rd.

Union Mill Elementary

Liberty Middle

Centreville High

Always double check the Fairfax County School Locater website by entering in the address of any home you plan to purchase.

School boundaries change and 3rd party on line school info is not always up to date or accurate.

A follow up email or phone call to the school would also beadvisable. Boundary studies are currently under way...expect changes.

Thanks for stopping in! If you would like to visit some of the homes in Little Rocky Run as they come on the market, please drop us an email and we will make it happen.

Also, please feel free to set up your own automatic home search at http://janandsteve.listingbook.com/

No one will bother you and all the listings that meet your specifications will come to an electronic organizer that you can access by email at your leisure.

If you are a Little Rocky Run home owner, and would like a free analysis of your property's current market value, please drop us an email.

We are happy to be of service, with no obligation and no pressure :-)

As you can see on the graph below, Fairfax County median home prices bottomed in first quarter 2009 and have been working their way up since.

From early 2006 until the market bottomed, the power lay with buyers. As you can see, the market is much more balanced with a slight edge to sellers. Housing inventory is at a three year low, pushing prices higher for the limited homes available.

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Slug line to the Pentagon and Ft Belvoir....a Washington DC institution.

A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post about transportation options for folks moving to a duty station at the Pentagon.

Alert reader Nancy Murray, a retired Navy commander who was stationed at the Pentagon some years back, left a comment that she had "slugged in from Fairfax Station".

I had forgotten about THE SLUG LINE.

Slugging is a cross between organized hitch hiking and random carpooling.

It is human ingenuity at its best. As my friend Rich who slugs to the State Dept. says: "Slugging is an example of a government policy (HOV lanes) creating the desired government result (cheap alternative transportation) without government involvement".

What is slugging? Well, slugging has become so organized and entrenched that is has its own superb website that explains the whole thing better than I can. http://www.slug-lines.com/:

" The system of slugging is quite simple.

A car needing additional passengers to meet the required 3- person high occupancy vehicle (HOV) minimum pulls up to one of the known slug lines.

The driver usually positions the car so that the slugs are on the passenger side. The driver either displays a sign with the destination or simply lowers the passenger window, to call out the destination, such as "Pentagon," "L’Enfant Plaza," or "14th & New York."

The slugs first in line for that particular destination then hop into the car, normally confirming the destination, and off they go."

For a local interest story of real life slugging visit: Congressman joins the slugline

If you or friends are moving out of Northern Virginia ...away from Slug Central to the more peaceful climes of Colorado Springs and you need real estate assistance....a good place to start would be our alert reader friend Nancy Murray.

Nancy is a Realtor in Colorado Springs with knowledge of DC and miltary relocation...from both sides.

You can see Nancy's profile at: Nancy Murray once you are at Nancy's profile, you can check out her Colorado Springs real estate blog by clicking on it over on the left side of the profile page.

She would be happy to help make your relocation a smooth one.